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Fennel’s approval rating has plummeted in the GTA’s northwestern city above Mississauga. One opinion poll couldn’t find 30 people out of 100 happy with the mayor — 14 years after she came to power.

More than seven in 10 disapproved of the job she’s doing, up from 58 per cent disapproval in January. Forum Research asked Brampton voters who they’d vote for on Oct. 27 — Fennell or one of two announced challengers. Respondents opted for former MPP Linda Jeffrey and Councillor John Sanderson when asked their preference.

This was unthinkable a year or two ago, despite the stench of expense scandals hanging over Fennell’s head. What this proves again is the sanitizing effect of public scrutiny.

GTA citizens take a certain amount of perverse pleasure reading about this or that indiscretion at Toronto city hall. They often delude themselves into thinking that only Toronto councillors behave badly or do stupid things or waste taxpayers’ money or spend tax dollars preening themselves or propping up their political office.

In essence, residents hear more about Toronto because that’s where the media scrutiny is most intense.

In Brampton — where media watchdogs are few and distracted — Fennell has managed to survive what appears to be a stunning abuse of her office.

Her cavalier misuse of taxpayers’ money may yet sink her, but if not for dogged hunting from journalists, especially the Star’s San Grewal, her habits might have continued unchecked and unabated.

Latest revelations show Fennell and her staff billed Brampton ratepayers $622,000 on a city-issued credit card since 2007. Charges include $28,006 for hotel stay in London, England; first-class tickets for some jaunts; expensive travel options on others; and an orgy of spending that has raised the ire of her constituents. Documents show Fennell reimbursed $45,417 of the amount, with $24,294 provided by her private gala, a body set up to promote Brampton and aid community groups.

What was she doing in London? Attending the World Leadership Awards, as Brampton was a finalist, she says. But for 10 days?

She could have visited Buckingham Palace, taken a ride on the London Eye, studied the new LRTs being planned, and dropped in at the venerable Lords cricket grounds under the guise of a study tour to see how Brampton might build world-class facilities for its burgeoning population of cricket lovers; anything to remotely justify the trip. And still be back in Brampton with a week to spare.

Fennell might have been a high flier, but even the minutest cost didn’t escape her attention. She billed the taxpayer $1 for an iTunes download and $2 for an airport luggage cart. These are costs that must have been difficult to cover for a mayor who has been the highest paid in the country during this time.

Yes, Fennell, leader of Brampton, population under 550,000, ninth largest city in Canada, makes more money than Hazel McCallion, more than the mayors of Montreal, Vancouver, Toronto.

After downplaying that fact for years — finding all kinds of excuses and explanations that only served to show how fat and piggy she had become, gorging on the public purse — Fennell pulled a fast one late last year.

She quietly asked city staff to stop salary payments for November and December. She did it without telling council — an action that might violate council policies. And, by so doing, her salary for 2013 came in below the top-grossing mayor.

Brampton councillors, trying to understand her motive, didn’t get answers at the last meeting because she was absent, taking care of an ill husband. And the city staffer who carried out the secret stop-payment request had no clear answer for council on the impact of his actions.

Apparently, the move isn’t permanent. For example, Fennell’s salary returned to its tops-in-Canada norm ($228,000 compared with $170,000 for Toronto’s mayor) in January, unless she issued another secret memo to staff. The reasonable speculation is that this was a cynical move to have her salary appear lower than it really is, when reported in documents comparing salaries across the country.

While all that is going on, Toronto Mayor Rob Ford was raging about city councillors spending too much of their office budget. Whoever thought the likes of Giorgio Mammoliti and Anthony Perruzza would be embraced as responsible spenders compared with a mayor of Brampton?

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